LEADERSHIP ACADEMY FOR BUSINESS MEMBERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS IN AFRICA

The continuing systematic lack of focus on leadership is a main reason for the shortcomings experienced by many BMOs in Africa, as they fail to develop sustainable structures and effectively build their human capacity. In addition, crucial support structures for learning about leadership development and exercising leadership remain weak. The solution to the challenge of leadership is the establishment of the African BMO Academy for Leadership. The Academy is the brainchild of FABCOS and the Confederation of Danish Industries. The purpose of the academy is to profoundly improve the leadership capacity of key board members and secretariat directors in African BMOs. The Academy has a dual focus:

• On the one hand, the academy trains key BMO board members with the aim of improving the corporate governance practices of BMOs, and thereby create an improved framework for exercising leadership.
• On the other hand, the academy exposes top management in African BMOs to the art and practice of leadership development.

In order to build sustainability, the initiative is structured in the following manner:

• It is a non physical venture, and has no campus. It is a revolving programme which carries out each module in a new host business association in the region. Host associations are those participating in the programme in any given year.
• The secretariat is located at a participating BMO in a particular region. The secretariat is jointly run by a select BMO in partnership FABCOS and DI.
• The full leadership ‘package’ for directors and deputy directors consists of approximately 4-5 modules of 4 to 5 days each to be completed within a year. 2 days of each module is held during a weekend, in order to minimise strain on their organisations.
• The full leadership ‘package’ for presidents/chairmen of the board and their deputies consists of approximately 2 to 3 modules of 3-4 days each to be completed within a year.
• The programme primarily targets CEOs and chairmen from BMOs in Anglophone countries in Africa. If successful, a similar model will be launched in the Francophone countries of West and Central Africa.
• The training is conducted by external trainers from respected academic institutions with experience from similar assignments in developing countries (e.g. select staff from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University or the University of Pretoria), African organisations/ institutions with strong credentials in leadership development, international leadership consultants and leadership trainers from DI.
• The specific methodology and approach to leadership will be developed in concert with the African and international partners. It will take its point of departure in a) the case in point and the adaptive learning process pioneered by Linsky and Heifetz of Harvard University; b) the results based leadership approach developed by the OCL Groups and c) the NGO leadership development training applied throughout developing countries by DI.

Contribution from BMOs Acceptance to the leadership programme at the Academy will be competitive. Each participant is expected to pay tuition for entry into the programme. However, a large majority (possibly all) of the participants will have the possi­bility to apply for a tuition, training materials, travel and accommodation grant.

The grant will cover between 90-100 percent of costs. The grants will be competitive, being given only to those who feel the initiative being worthwhile their time to draft a well worked out grant application DI will be the anchor of the project. DI will be responsible for implementation of the programme, i.e. coordinating all activities, reporting to and liaising with donors, building partnership with external resource persons and institutions, coordinating outreach activities, as well as carrying out elements of the training sessions in leadership and corporate governance.

 

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